A JURY watched the man accused of murdering 11-year-old Lesley Molseed as he told police he could not explain why his semen was found at the scene of the killing.

Bradford Crown Court was shown a video recording of Ronald Castree’s first police interview in November 2006 after he was arrested on suspicion of Lesley’s murder at Ripponden more than 30 years ago.

In the recording, detectives asked 54-year-old Castree directly if he killed Lesley. He replied: “I did not.”

Castree was then asked: “Can you explain to me why your semen has been found at the scene of the murder?”

He replied: “No, I can’t.”

The jury has heard Lesley went missing from her home in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, as she was running an errand for her mother on October 5, 1975.

Her body was found three days later on the West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester border, on moors near to the A672 Oldham to Ripponden road.

She had been stabbed 12 times during a “frenzied attack”, the jury has heard.

The jury has already heard an innocent man – tax clerk Stefan Kiszko – was wrongly convicted of Lesley’s murder and spent 16 years in prison.

After Mr Kiszko’s release, scientists built up a DNA profile of whoever left the semen which was found in Lesley’s pants. The court has been told a DNA sample taken from Castree when he was arrested on an unrelated matter in 2005 was a direct match with the sample from the 1975 murder scene.

Today the jury was shown the video footage shot at Halifax police station in which bald-headed Castree is seen answering questions willingly.

Wearing a yellow short-sleeved shirt and dark trousers, he was talking to the officers with a drink in front of him in a plastic cup.

A one point he took his glasses off and put them on the table in front of him.

In the video recording, Castree tells the officers he is willing to cooperate.

Asked what he knew about the Lesley Molseed murder, he said: “Only what I read in the media.”

At the time of the murder he was “just getting on with life”.

He admitted that when he was arrested at his home, his first reaction was to say: “You’re joking.”

And he disputed saying to a civilian custody officer: “I have been expecting this for years” as he was being photographed at the police station.

Castree, who sat in the dock wearing a suit and tie, denies the murder between October 4 and 9, 1975.

The case continues.